gth.

[Footnote 392: 'Non habet quod nobis Graecus imputet aut Afer
insultet.']

'Let all the fleet be assembled at Ravenna on the next Ides of June.
Let our own Padus send his home-born navy to the sea, his
river-nurtured firs to battle with the winds of Ocean.

'But there is one suggestion of yours of great importance, and which
must be diligently acted upon, namely the removal of the nets whereby
the fishermen at present impede the channels of the following rivers:
Mincius, Ollius (Oglio), Anser (Serchio), Arno, Tiber. Let the river
lie open for the transit of ships; let it suffice for the appetite of
man to seek for delicacies in the ordinary way, not by rustic artifice
to hinder the freedom of the stream.'

18. KING THEODORIC TO UVILIAS [WILLIAS?], VIR ILLUSTRIS AND COUNT OF
THE PATRIMONY.

19. KING THEODORIC TO GUDINAND, A SAJO.

20. KING THEODORIC TO AVILF, A SAJO.

[Sidenote: On the same subject.]

These three letters all relate to the same subject as the two
preceding ones--the formation of a navy, and the _rendezvous_ of ships
and sailors at Ravenna on the Ides of June.

The Count of the Patrimony is courteously requested to see if there is
any timber suitable for the purposes of the navy, growing in the royal
estates along the banks of the Po.

The Sajones are ordered in more brusque and peremptory fashion:
Gudinand to collect the sailors at Ravenna on the appointed day; and
Avilf to collect timber along the banks of the Po, with as little
injury to the Possessors as possible (not, however, apparently paying
them anything for it), to keep his hands clean from extortion and
fraud, and to pull up the stake-nets in the channels of the five
rivers mentioned in Letter 17; 'for we all know that men ought to fish
with nets, not with hedges, and the opposite practice shows detestable
greediness.'

21. KING THEODORIC TO CAPUANUS, SENATOR.

22. KING THEODORIC TO THE SENATE OF THE CITY OF ROME.

[Sidenote: Capuanus appointed Rector Decuriarum.]

[On the appointment of Capuanus to the office of Rector of the Guilds
(Rector Decuriarum). The Guilds (Decuriae) of the City of Rome--not to
be confounded with the Provincial _Curiae_, membership in which was at
this time a burden rather than an advantage--enjoyed several special
privileges. We find from the Theodosian Code, Lib. xiv. Tit. 1, that
there were Decuriae of the _Librarii_, _Fiscales_, _Censuales_. The
_Decuria Scribarum_ is perhaps the same as